*A California bill would require judges to consider a person’s race when deciding how long they should spend in prison.
Bill 852 was quietly introduced earlier this year by Assembly Member Reggie Jones-Sawyer, the Democratic chair of the California Assembly’s Public Safety Committee, Fox News reports. Assembly members passed the legislation in May, and the state Senate is currently considering it.
“It is the intent of the Legislature to rectify the racial bias that has historically permeated our criminal justice system as documented by the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans,” the proposed new section to the Penal Code reads.
“Whenever the court has discretion to determine the appropriate sentence according to relevant statutes and the sentencing rules of the Judicial Council, the court presiding over a criminal matter shall consider the disparate impact on historically disenfranchised and system-impacted populations,” the proposal continues.
The California task force was created in 2020 after California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill to establish the panel to examine possible reparations for eligible Black Californians.
We reported previously, citing CNN, that the task force released its final report last month, “comprised of more than 1,000 pages, include a formal apology on behalf of California to descendants of people enslaved in the United States and recommendations for reforms linked to health care, housing, education and criminal justice, among other areas,” per CNN.
“While the task force is recommending monetary compensation for those impacted, it did not provide a specific amount that should be paid. Through their formula, they determined that an eligible person could be owed up to an estimated $1.2 million,” CNN writes.
There is no guarantee that the panel’s recommendations will be passed by the California Legislature and signed into law by the governor, according to CNN.
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